Rise in demand for JLR plug-in hybrids as customers prepare for electrification
Luxury car maker, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), is seeing a growing demand for its plug-in hybrid models.
Global retail sales for the first half of the year are up 29% compared with the prior year, as more customers use the technology as a stepping stone towards battery electric vehicles (BEV).
JLR has manufacturing plants in Halewood, Merseyside, and at Castle Bromwich and Solihull in the West Midlands.
For the Range Rover brand, global PHEV retail sales were up 47% in the first half of this financial year, while plug‑in electric hybrid Defender global retail sales were up 23% compared with the previous financial year.
This builds on accelerated growth of JLR’s global PHEV sales, which increased 59% year‑on‑year in FY24 versus FY23, while new Range Rover plug‑in electric hybrid retails nearly doubled over the same period.
Mark Camilleri, Director of Electrification Services, said: “Demand is growing for our plug‑in electric hybrid models as customers become more accustomed to electrification.
“PHEVs offer performance, fuel economy and low emissions, with zero emissions while driving in pure electric mode.
“They also give clients the opportunity to adapt to a new ownership experience, including home and public charging, ahead of the launch of our next generation fully electric vehicles.”
He added: “JLR is able to offer a range of fuel options to meet the energy transition dynamics of each market, and we will offer a pure electric variant of each nameplate by 2030 with the aim of reaching carbon net zero by 2039.”
With its modular longitudinal architecture (MLA) on which Range Rover and Range Rover Sport are built, JLR will offer clients internal combustion engine (ICE), plug‑in electric hybrid and soon, battery electric vehicle (BEV) options, well into the next decade.
The PHEV variant of Range Rover and Range Rover Sport can drive in pure electric mode for up to 70 miles. This far exceeds the average daily 20 miles UK drivers cover.
JLR currently has more than 48,000 clients on the waiting list for Range Rover Electric, which is the first in a line up of zero emissions luxury electric vehicles from its brands.
In late September JLR announced that it will invest £500m into its Halewood manufacturing site in Knowsley to create a ‘factory of the future’.
It will transform the plant, which employs around 4,000 staff, to support the parallel production of electric vehicles, alongside existing combustion and hybrid models.
